Tri-Cities struck first 1:43 into the game when Brendan Shinnimin scored in a scrum at the side of the net to make it 1-0. The Americans' Marcus Messier made it 2-0 at the 11:49 mark on a shot from the slot, then 44 seconds later Jordan Messier scored from the right faceoff circle to make it 3-0 in favor of the Americans.

The Winterhawks

Next up: Portland at Tri-City, 7 tonight (radio on KXTG 95.5)

The Winterhawks got on the board at the 16:58 mark of the first period when Seth Swenson blocked a shot at the Portland blueline and took the puck the other way. Oliver Gabriel jumped into the rush, took a pass from Swenson and fired it past Americans' goaltender Drew Owsley to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Tri-Cities had the lone goal of the second period when David Conrad scored at the 3:36 mark to make it 4-1 for the Americans going into the third period.

The Americans made it 5-1 at the 14:00 mark of the third period on Spencer Humphries' goal, and the 5-1 score would stand as the final.

Craig Cunningham made his Winterhawks debut Tuesday, just hours after being acquired from the Vancouver Giants along with a sixth round pick in the 2011 Bantam Draft in exchange for Spencer Bennett, Teal Burns, a first round pick in the 2011 draft and a second round pick in the 2012 draft.

Along with Cunningham, two other players made their Portland debuts, as 16-year-olds Brayden Low and Adam Smith were in the lineup with five regular players away at tournaments. Sven Bartschi, Ryan Johansen and Nino Niederreiter are currently playing at the World Junior Championship, while Brendan Leipsic and Derrick Pouliot are at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. For Low and Smith, it was their WHL debuts.

The Winterhawks and Americans meet again tomorrow night when they complete the back-to-back set in Kennewick, WA.